Wednesday, August 31, 2016

This past weekend, my parents traded their time share for a condo at Bear Lake. They invited us to come up and join them. Clearly we weren't going to turn down a free lake adventure.

My sister, Mellen, and her daughter, Adalyn joined us for the car ride up. Adalyn wasn't super excited bout riding in the car for three hours, but we discovered that she doesn't cry as long as I'm singing. I mean, who could do anything but smile when they hear my golden voice?

We got to the condo fairly late on Friday night, so Friday mostly consisted of hanging with the fam in the condo.

Saturday morning, Robyn and I made breakfast for everyone. We made epic breakfast burritos. We cooked more sausage than you can possibly imagine. The deliciousness was off the charts.

After a lazy morning, we all went down to the beach. Here are some highlights of our adventures.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

This year the Hugo committee decided to do another Retro Hugo Award. The year they are retroactively awarding is 75 years ago in 1941. Unfortunately, I was not a very good reader this year. Normally, I would try to vote in every category for both 1941 and 2016. But I didn't do all the homework. So here are all the categories that I voted in. There were some very good works this year.1941 Best Novel

Slan was a lot of fun. A little bit dated, but it was basically X-Men. How could I not love it?1 Slan by A.E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science-Fiction, Dec 1940)2 Kallocain by Karin Boye (Bonnier)3 Gray Lensman by E.E. "Doc" Smith (Astounding Science-Fiction, Jan 1940)4 The Ill-Made Knight by T.H. White (Collins)5 The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson (Unknown, Mar 1940)1941 Best Novelette

Does my bias for Heinlein show? Probably. This was a really fun story about a neat technology. I agree. The roads must roll.1 The Roads Must Roll by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, June 1940)2 Blowups Happen by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, Sept 1940)3 Vault of the Beast by A.E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1940)4 It! by Theodore Sturgeon (Unknown, Aug 1940)5 Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates (Astounding Science-Fiction, Oct 1940)1941 Best Short Story

This was a hard one. But I really liked Stephen King's story. It was pretty unique, and a bit frightening.1 Obits by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)2 Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)3 Flashpoint: Titan by CHEAH Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)4 What Price Humanity? by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)5 And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb 2015)2016 Short Story